Family Matters
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: Butch has a secret conversation with a woman...and Cassidy decides to investigate. What she discovers is the skeleton in Butch's closet.


FAMILY MATTERS

Butch was nervous. His big sister was enquiring about him, and he was going to have to meet her. However, considering what his sister did, it would have to be on the sly. He couldn't let Cassidy, the Boss, or worse still, Jessie and James finding out who and what his sister was! He'd die of shame! Similarly, he couldn't let his sister know he was part of Team Rocket. He used his mobile to phone his sister, and arranged to meet in a cafe in a week's time. However, he didn't know somebody else was listening...

Cassidy stood in the doorway with a sick stomach. She had just heard Butch on the phone to another girl! Was he tiring of her! How had some other woman got her claws into him?

She decided she wasn't going to give him up without a fight! If she wanted him, she'd have to fight her for him, and then he'd have to explain himself! She slipped away to get a coffee, and strolled in nonchalently five minutes later.

"Hiya, Cass, don't book me in for anything Wednesday afternoon, I'll be busy."

"Sure thing." she said. _So will I-following you! _she thought to herself. She sat down, and drank her coffee. Butch came over and started rubbing her neck, and she started relaxing.

"Hey, what's up, Cass?" Butch asked. "You're as tense as a guitar string?"

"Nothing!" she snapped. Butch gave her a strange look, and she realised she'd just made him more, not less, sure that something was up. "Just a bad day, I guess. Trainees were playing up something dreadful this morning. I think I've got PMT-you know what I'm like them." Butch relaxed and continued massaging her neck. _Thank_ _God, he bought it!_ she thought.

Cassidy knew Butch had a large family, he'd told her one night. No details, just that he was one of twelve children, and so was his mother, and all of her eleven siblings had large families too. It was apparently a family tradition. However, Cassidy's feminine jealousy blinded her to the fact his meeting could be innocent.

She managed to keep the charade up until she waved him off on Wednesday. She couldn't help notice that he was out of uniform, wearing a smart pair of navy trousers and a yellow shirt that offset his green hair rather nicely. _He's even dressing up for her!_ she thought resentfully. _He never does that for me. Then again, he always looks gorgeous, and more so in uniform!_ She debated whether to go plain clothed herself, to follow him, but decided her uniform was the most comfortable outfit to do so in. She tailed him at a distance, hiding behind corners, dodging in alleys, and a couple of times creeping over roofs. He kept looking back over his shoulder at odd times, but Cassidy managed to avoid being spotted. This behaviour made her even more suspicious of his female friend. She hung back as he went into a cafe. She waited for a few minutes, than followed him in, expecting to catch him in the act.

Butch ordered a coffee, and made his way over to where he could see his older sister waiting at a table for him. He sat down opposite her.

"Hi." he said.

"Hello, Butch!" she smiled. "Have you been behaving yourself?" she asked. He nodded, thinking _You must be joking!_

"So, how's that girl of yours you're always talking about? Cassidy, isn't it?"

Butch looked a his green-haired sister, and said "She's fine, just a touch of PMT that's all."

"Oh, I take a special herb tea for it. I'll get her a box next time I go shopping. You'll have to let me meet her, I don't even know what she looks like!"

"Sure!" he said. "I'll bring her next time."

Cassidy crept in, and looked around. She spotted Butch's green head, and turned to look at his female companion. When she saw who he was with, she nearly choked. Ducking behind chairs and tables, she decided to creep up behind him and ask him what on earth he thought he was up to.

Butch laid back and half-closed his eyes as his sister told him some of the news from home. His sister was in contact with his mother, which was more than he was. He had been unable to wait to move out of the crowded house his mother had, and had elected to stay out of contact to avoid being pressed into babysitting, which he knew happened often to two of his elder siblings. He'd done enough of it while living at home, and she preferred him, because she said he had "a way with the kids". He could see no reason she'd stop getting him to do it when he moved out. So he just omitted to send his new address.

He was listening to his sister talking about the latest exploits of his youngest sibling, when he heard a voice hissed in his ear "Butch! What are you doing, talking to the fuzz?" He was so surprised that he jumped about a foot up with a yelp. He turned to see Cassidy. His sister had got up to find out what was up, and also caught sight of the crouching female Rocket. She moved around to stand over her.

"What are you doing?" she said. Butch moved between them.

"Ah-you said you wanted to meet Cassidy? Well, here she is. Cassidy, this is my oldest sister, Jenny. She's the officer in charge of Carnelion town." He turned to the shocked Cassidy. "I told you I had a lot of female cousins. And they all look like her."

Cassidy's only response was to collapse in a dead faint.


End file.
